Printer calibration help

Go ahead, call me cheap..... I'm using refillable ink cartridges for my general purpose printer (Canon MX-922). It does pretty decent for printing reports, graphs, etc. but the colors suck for photos - which is why I'm sitting here asking for help. I need to print some documents that include photos and need to figure out how to get the printer somewhat calibrated, it doesn't need to be perfect but it needs to be better than it is now.

BTW - my monitor is calibrated.

( I use a Canon PIXMA Pro-100 with 'real' ink for photos. Yes, I know I could just use the Pro-100 for this project but I really really need to be able to get somewhat reasonable quality from my 'cheap' printer).

The only way to calibrate a printer is by creating a icc profile for the specific paper and ink combo. You need to print a target image using your paper and ink and then use a profiling device to create an icc profile or send the paper to a company that will produce a profile.

You might try some calibration by human eye and experiential learning. Looking at a disappointing printed result ask yourself what some of strange or wonderful processing changes would be needed to get a reasonable print out of the MX-922 and its current ink.

Way back when I actually got rather good at doing this with an ancient HP.

AZGeorge wrote in post #18682803
You might try some calibration by human eye and experiential learning. Looking at a disappointing printed result ask yourself what some of strange or wonderful processing changes would be needed to get a reasonable print out of the MX-922 and its current ink.

Way back when I actually got rather good at doing this with an ancient HP.

I'm wondering if there's anything available like a color chart that can be printed to help determine the necessary changes. I tried playing around with the color settings vs. an image on my monitor and I pretty much sucked at dialing it in myself.

Something like this might help. Either that or be crazy making. <G>

http://nativedigital.c​o.uk …5/CC-Test-Form-RGB-LR.jpg

groundloop wrote in post #18682831
I'm wondering if there's anything available like a color chart that can be printed to help determine the necessary changes. I tried playing around with the color settings vs. an image on my monitor and I pretty much sucked at dialing it in myself.

The key is to compare the printed picture viewed in its normal ambient light to the image on the monitor in its own editing ambient lighting. For me that meant repeatedly going from the living room in daylight to the adjoining shuttered home office.

A professional light box makes the job more comfortable and the results more accurate.